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FutureCast Brand: Visualize Your End State

Last time we discussed what a FutureCast Brand is; “The brand itself is a living thing, something that evokes response, something that drives change, something that facilitates life;” an amazingly robust statement for something that has long been thought to be merely something for consumers to distinguish between options in a specific product category. The extension of brands has been constantly evolving over the past decades as expectations from consumers continue to rise and the effective consumerism that is permeating the social and digital channels, forcing companies to be something more. The idea and thought that a “brand is a living thing… something that facilitates life” is profound, yes, but should be something on the minds of every marketing executive in the world. How can my brand facilitate life? What more can I do to add value and develop a lifestyle for my consumers? And, most importantly, what will all this look like when it’s finally realized?

“The brand itself is a living thing, something that evokes response, something that drives change, something that facilitates life.”

This is the backbone of a FutureCast Brand; visualize the end state of our brand, then, with this visualization as a constant, use each activity, each interaction, and each message to strive for that end state. Gone are the days of static brand guidelines and looking in the past… Now is the time to deliver what “will” be.

visualize the end state of our brand, then, with this visualization as a constant, use each activity, each interaction, and each message to strive for that end state.

With this agreed upon definition and branding thought process, we can begin to look at what needs to be accounted for to develop what our “end state” is and what it looks like in the ecosystem of our consumers lifestyle (once we ingrain into a lifestyle, we go beyond loyalty and advocacy, and receive the coveted passion and routine). As you could probably imagine there are many different things that need to be taken into account when devising the end state for us to visualize the path towards FutureCast greatness.

To give you a picture of what should be accounted for in your end state brainstorm, we have devised a list of things that, not only distinguish your outward brand messaging, but also takes into account the consumer, community, as well as the complete ecosystem in which a brand participates. This is just a sample of what needs to be thought of, each brand, product category, industry will be different. Make yours your own, but be sure to take a holistic view of how your brand can support or facilitate each of your consumer’s lives.

The Brand Itself: Your brand, as it sits today, has a specific mantra or aura around it. The assets, elements, outward emotions, imagery, typography, and feelings all come into play when thinking about the future of your brand. Knowing who you are will aid in figuring out who you’ll be when finally realized. But don’t let who you are stifle your thought process. Imagine a “Superhuman” brand that extends beyond anything previously thought; after all, you’ll be supporting and facilitating life in the future.

Products / Services / Subbrands: Each product and product experience lays heavily with the consumer’s internal impression of your brand. You could build the coolest brand end state ever, but if you fail to meet the basic needs of product or service delivery, you’ll never realize its fruits. Your branding and messaging must be baked in to the products and services that you offer in order to ensure the symbiotic understanding between your brand and your consumer.

Emotions: There is a tremendous amount of emotion that is distributed each and every day across our consumer base. Understanding the emotional states that surround the interactions with your products, the aspirations for your brand, the process in which the consumer purchases are all very important to developing an end state for your brand. How can you communicate these situations to your consumer? How can you support or facilitate the expansion or erosion of those particular emotions with your brand?

Culture: Closely related to emotions, brands can become very “culture-specific.” Look at the past PC v Mac; there were specific components of each brand that appealed towards specific subsegments of larger populations. Understanding the development, thought process, and decision making activities of these subsegments of a larger population will allow for a more dynamic view of your brand and what it can/will become. Imagine if you or your consumer could mold specific messaging or experiences with your brand to their specific cultures or lifestyles.

Interactions: Since the permeation of social and mobile technologies, interactions with brands are happening everywhere. No longer is the time of consumption or the time of purchase the main interaction point with consumers. Consumers are interacting with brands on a real time, ad hoc basis, not necessarily developed by you or your marketing organization. These interactions are very personal, but mostly in a public forum; with each peer-to-peer interaction being more powerful than anything you could ever say. These interactions and the way consumers will interact with your brand in the future will most definitely play a large part in the end state of your brand. It opens up opportunities for transparency, authenticity, and becoming more that a product producer and more a part of the lifestyle of each consumer.

Affinities: Your consumers or subsegments of your consumers, probably hold similar likes/dislikes across other categories, some that may be able to expand your brand through affinity. As people “herd” together, I can see an opportunity for brands to begin to “herd” together to show their affinity to each other for the purpose of creating extra value for their consumers. Knowing where your brand lives and plays in the business environment will allow you to begin to map out strategic partnerships for the long term vision of your brand.

Affiliations / NPOs / Charities: More and more, consumers are voting and supporting with their wallets. By aligning your brand and company with the specific NPOs, Charities, or belonging to the right affiliations, you can support the causes that are important to your consumers. As consumers, support with their wallet, the importance of these relationships and the correct communication of these relationships will be extremely beneficial to a certain consumer population. Definitely something that should never be overlooked.

Lifestyle: The final thing on our short list is the lifestyle of the consumer. What does your consumer do on a daily basis? As technologies evolve, we’ll be able to track, monitor, the react to this, so it is definitely worth thinking about when brainstorming the end state of your brand. Be sure to take into account the activities that surround the use of your product or service. Understand other instances that they could be using or how your brand could support other activities in their daily lives. This specific understanding will be the driving force behind the complete integration into the routine of each consumer; expanding loyalty and advocacy to passion and routine.

Well, there you have it. A lot to take into account when brainstorming what the end state of your brand will become. During the brainstorming exercise, you should begin the conversation and discussion of how the brand lives and breathes within this ecosystem. Which factors are of higher priority, which factors can be communicated through the lifestyle of the consumer, which factors are direct, indirect, or tertiary? It’s a great practice to look at the future of the brand instead of the past; it generates excitement and allows you to actually know where you’re going.

At the end of the exercise, you should have a very specific, very detailed definition of what the brand “is” in the future; with descriptions of the interactions and emotions on an industry, category, business, community, and consumer level. This end state will allow us to begin to see the path needed to take to achieve this end state and FutureCast our brand.

Next time, we’ll take our ‘end state’ and start to map that path with, what we call, Consumer Cartography.

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